Chinese Web Reality Show '15 of Us' Launches, First Under Talpa, Tencent Pact

Based on Talpa's 'Utopia,' the series starts on the Chinese video site on Tuesday, followed by its launch on satellite TV.

Dutch reality TV group Talpa and Chinese online platform Tencent have kicked off their co-production partnership with The 15 of Us, a reality format loosely based on Talpa's Utopia.

The show, which Tencent launched online on its Tencent Video platform on Tuesday, brings together 15 people, picked from different areas across China, on an isolated mountain in the Tong Lu region. They are tasked with working together to create a self-sufficient society and then earn money so that they can realize their own personal dreams. The 15 participants were chosen from more than 100,000 online applicants.

The program will also go out on satellite TV via China's Dragon TV starting Monday, June 29.

Talpa, which was recently acquired by Britain's ITV in a $1.17 billion deal, inked a production deal with Tencent last year to develop non-scripted formats for the Chinese market. The Dutch group, founded by Big Brother creator John de Mol, has been hugely successful in the Chinese market with the local-language version of its singing competition format The Voice.

The 15 of Us will be the first major test of whether a reality TV format can be successful online.